Publication: Dagbladet [?]
Date: November 22, 1996
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Title: Dagbladet Review
Reviewed By: Staff

"Emancipation"
(EMI)

[Translated by ?]

Once there was an artist called Prince who always was at the leading edge in popular music and its many half-brothers. Now he's lagging behind.

The man we formerly knew as Prince has created a monumental CD-construction called "Emancipation", a 3 hour attempt at a journey through what could have been a testament over black music from blues, gospel, R&B, soul, funk and hip hop, but it never makes it thanks to the artists immense ego.

He is so pre-occupied with his own greatness that he cant make himself turn away from the mirror he's sitting in front. The compositions suffer from the same megalomania. There are extreme ambitions, extreme arrangements, extreme technical skills and other extremeties that almost tips over into the pathetic. On the whole the music on this album is simply dull and predictable.

It is not enough to attach his symbol on songs that, at best, should have been kept in the vault. That exciting the artist we used to know as Prince of 1996 isnt I'm afraid.

The artists triple CD simply doesnt have the exciting material to defend such an overdose. Lets put it like this: An average book does not get perticularly better if the author adds another 300 pages, nor does a movie get more exciting because it is 2 hours and 9 minutes longer than 1 hour and 50 minutes.

However, should you bother to put together your own normal CD from the 36 songs The Symbol (yikes) tries to push on you, you will get a slightly above average album to listen to. Next thing you know he'll be marrying Cleopatra.

Points: 4 (out of 6)